Ottawa 2017 organizers are pumping an extra $150,000 into a fund designed to help community groups plan special events across the city to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation in 2017.
The civic events funding program provides not-for-profit organizations such as community or recreation associations with money to organize free, one or two-day events on civic or statutory holidays, such as New Year’s Day, Family Day, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day and Thanksgiving.
Groups can currently apply for up to $3,000 from the fund, the total of which is usually $50,000.
But in 2017, the fund will receive a one-time cash injection of $150,000 to encourage more grassroots or community groups to organize events to commemorate the sesquicentennial in their part of the city. Individual groups would be eligible for up to $5,000 in funding that year, or up to $10,000 if they partner with one or more groups.
The additional funding, which comes from Ottawa 2017 sponsors, was announced Thursday during an information session at Ottawa City Hall.
“It’s one thing to put in place big, flamboyant events to attract visitors, but we also wanted to have the right balance with a series of more smaller-scale community activities so people across the city could celebrate the 150th the way they wanted and for activities to reflect the spirit and culture of each sector of the city,” said Guy Laflamme, head of the Ottawa 2017 Bureau.
The fund would be geared to existing community events that add a special 150th component, as well as new initiatives created to mark the occasion, Laflamme said.
“We want to create this festive, celebratory spirit all through the year and this will help us populate our calendar with a list of offerings, and also have a great variety of activities taking place,” he said.
Guidelines for the program will be posted on the Ottawa 2017 website soon, but application forms won’t be available until next summer. Groups would find out in early fall 2016 how much funding they are to receive in order to have sufficient time to plan.
The funding announcement will hopefully kick-start conversations among prospective event organizers, Laflamme said.
Funding streams geared toward the city’s arts, culture and heritage sector, as well as additional support for local festivals, will be announced early next year.
The latest 2017 news comes a week after the mayors of Ottawa and Gatineau jointly announced plans to close the Alexandra Bridge to regular traffic for one day in July 2017 to host a picnic.
Ottawa will also host the Juno awards in 2017.
Mayor Jim Watson has said he’d like the city to host the CFL’s Grey Cup and an NHL Heritage Classic that year, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
